Mimic

Chapter 1

Emily

"No, Jason, for the last time, we cannot get you another pocketknife," I tell my younger brother as we walk through the market of makeshift booths.

"What about a lighter?" he asks.

"No. I will not be an enabler to your pyromaniacal habits."

"Fine," he says in joking disappointment, putting a particularly wicked-looking knife back down at the booth opposite of the produce stand I am shopping at.

I pick up half a dozen apples and put them in my basket, paying Ms. Ellen a few opulens. "Thank you," I say.

"Be careful today, Emily. The Riders are angry with the Leaders. Something is going to happen tonight."

The Riders are a local gang whose beliefs hinge on chaos and destruction. Typically, the Leaders of our county allow them to do whatever they want—within bounds—in an attempt to curb the bloodshed, but the head Leader recently passed and was replaced by a new, eager military boy who thinks he can walk all over the Riders given a big enough stick. The problem is, he doesn't have a big enough stick. So now, we're left to pay for his mistake.

"Down." My brother's voice suddenly turns grave.

We duck behind the produce stand and crawl along the curtains of the booth, using the noise of the surrounding crowd to mask our shuffling. I reach the edge of the booth and peek around the corner. I see the reason Jason told me to get down: A Rider is standing ten feet from us, decked out in poorly concealed weapons. He has a gun on him and several knives by the looks of it. I tap Jason and switch places with him so that he can look the Rider over. I make a gun gesture to tell him to check the guy for weapons.

After a quick once-over of the gang member, Jason turns to me. "A gun on his hip, knives under his right sleeve and on his left leg. If I had to guess, he's either left-handed or really stupid."

"What do you have on you?"

"Well, I nicked the knife while you weren't looking..."

"Jason!" I whisper yell at him and sigh. "We'll deal with that in a minute. What else?" I check around the corner to see if the Rider is still standing where I last saw him.

"I still have that blow dart I was shooting at you and Dawn the other day." I crawl to the next booth, Jason behind me.

"The one that Mom and Dad confiscated?"

"Yeah."

"How many darts do you have left?"

"Three, but they're not going to hurt him. They'll just irritate him like they irritated you and Dawn."

I double check the Rider's position again and see that he's buying some clothes from a shopkeeper who looks particularly terrified. "I have an idea."

"We're going to die."

"It's a good idea!" I say, offended at his disbelief in me.

He rolls his eyes, and I check around the corner of the new booth, making sure it's clear for us to move again. We scoot to the next booth, edging closer to the woods that mark the end of the market area. After a few repetitions of this, we reach the woods and can stand up.

"What are we looking for?" Jason asks.

"Shh."

"But what are we –"

"Shh!"

"Fine," he gives up trying to help me. "I'll keep a lookout."

I visually rake the ground for the plant I'm looking for. After a few minutes of searching, I finally find it. I grab a stalk of the white berries and bring it to Jason.